He wore Minnesota gear everywhere, especially when Tubby Smith and his staff were around recruiting Lofton's older high school teammate, Jacob Thomas.

"He wanted to be a Gopher," former Columbia Heights basketball coach Willie Braziel said. "That was his dream. He wanted them to notice him."

They finally have.

The Illinois State transfer has a scholarship offer from Minnesota coach Richard Pitino and will sign Thursday, he tweeted Wednesday.

"I'm really excited, and it's been pretty cool from the first time they were in contact with me and I found out they had interest," said Lofton, who made an official visit to campus on Saturday.

Illinois State guard Zach Lofton, left, chases down a ball against Wichita State guard Tekele Cotton during the first half at Redbird Arena in Normal, Ill. on Wednesday, January 22, 2014. (AP Photo/ Stephen Haas)

"It's like I was being recruited all over again."

Pitino also got a commitment Wednesday from Bakary Konate, a 6-foot-11 center from Sunrise Christian (Kan.) Academy. With the addition last week of Gaston Diedhiou, a 6-9 forward from Senegal, and three players already signed, Pitino has commitments for all six scholarships available for the 2014 class.

Lofton, a 6-foot-4, 200-pound guard, averaged 11.3 points as a sophomore with the Redbirds this season but said he wanted to play closer to home and didn't get much resistance from Illinois State, which suspended him for the final three games of last season for undisclosed reasons.

Lofton declined to get into those details Wednesday, saying he learned "just self-discipline about the little things and how much the little things matter.

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Braziel, now Bloomington Kennedy's coach, said the Gophers would be getting an extremely talented offensive player, a "big-time steal" and not, despite the suspension, a potential risk.

"Zach is not a kid who demands the ball. He's going to do what you ask him to do. He's very coachable," Braziel said. "He's a great basketball player to have on your team. It's not going to be an off-court behavior thing with Zach. I know him. He's not going to do those things. He'll do anything he can to play basketball."

Lofton has deep shooting range, can beat his defender off the dribble and is an athletic finisher in transition. When he visited Pitino over the weekend, they talked about how he would fit well in Minnesota's up-tempo system.

"At Illinois State, we played a similar style," Lofton said. "We liked to run and did some pick-and-rolls. I like Pitino's style of play. He likes his guards to go. That's my style. I think I fit into that very well, and I'm excited about that."

Lofton, who is finishing up classes at Illinois State, is seeking a hardship waiver to play immediately, though it's most likely he'll have to sit out a season -- standard for a Division I transfer -- and play his two remaining seasons starting in 2015-16.

In a March 2011 photo, Columbia Heights guard Zach Lofton, center, powers past New Prague's Cale Girten, left and Jake Meyer in the first half of a Class AAA semifinal game at Target Center in Minneapolis. Lofton scored 31 points to lead the Hylanders' 57-50 win over the Trojans. (Pioneer Press: Richard Marshall)

"If I sit out and I don't get my hardship waiver, which is in process, it won't be bad," he said. "I can work on my game and be around the program and learn everything."

Lofton, a St. Paul native, attended St. Bernard's for two years; when the school closed, he transferred to Columbia Heights. He had the academic standing to qualify to play Division I out of high school, and averaged nearly 30 points as a senior in 2011, but he was portrayed as having a bad attitude -- he says unfairly -- and spent an extra year in prep school to raise his recruiting profile.

At Columbia Heights, he was punched in the face by a Minneapolis Henry player during a playoff game, and reports implied he was involved in a fight. But, Lofton said, "I'm not a bad kid like that."

After losing in the Class 3A state title game, he was not around for the postgame handshake and awards ceremony; as a result, he was removed from the all-tournament team.

"I wanted to win it so bad for my coaches and my family," he explained Wednesday. "I felt like it got taken from us. I was out of the game for a long time with fouls. I felt so strongly about it. It was so spur of the moment (that) I forgot about shaking hands. ... (I) wasn't trying to be rude."

Braziel said the Gophers would not regret bringing Lofton in.

"It's just his competitiveness more than his attitude," he said. "There will be nobody in that program who will work harder. For him now, he knows it's an opportunity to go to a place he's always wanted to go. He wants to be home."